The present application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C xc2xa7119 with respect to Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-081330 filed on Mar. 21, 2000 (13th Year of Heisei), the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sanitary device which controls temperatures of cleansing water, drying air or a toilet seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a sanitary device 1 as shown in FIGS. 5-8 controls the temperature of cleansing water for cleansing human private parts such as anus or pubic parts, and drying air for drying such parts after cleansing, or the toilet seat. The sanitary device 1 according to FIG. 5 includes an operation panel 4, a cleansing nozzle 7, a heater 14 for heating the water, a drying air control unit 16 and control substrate 19. The operation panel 4 includes a heating water switch 21 for the heater control, a toilet seat switch 22, a drying air switch 23, a bidet cleansing switch 24, a cleansing switch 25 for cleansing an anus, a stop switch 26 and LED displays 51 for indicating controlled conditions of each switch as shown in FIG. 6.
In the control substrate 19, a microcomputer 31 is connected to various thermistors and control circuits such as heating water thermistor 52, toilet seat thermistor 53, room temperature thermistor 54, heating water control circuit 33, toilet seat heater control circuit 34, drying air unit drive circuit 35, water passage control circuit 36 and LED control circuit 37. Further, the microcomputer 31 in the control substrate 19 is connected to the heating water switch 21, the toilet seat switch 22, the drying air switch 23, the bidet cleansing switch 24, the cleansing switch 25 for cleansing anus and the stop switch 26.
Further, in the control substrate 19, the heating water control circuit 33 is connected to the heating water heater 14, the toilet seat heater control 34 is connected to a toilet seat heater 15, the drying air unit drive control circuit 35 is connected to the drying air unit 16, the water passage control circuit 36 is connected to the cleansing nozzle 7, and the LED control circuit 37 is connected to each LED 51 display in the operation panel 4.
According to the sanitary device shown at 1 in FIG. 5, after the toilet cover 2 is opened, when a user seated on the toilet seat 3 pushes the bidet cleansing switch 24, or the cleansing switch 25 for cleansing an anus, the microcomputer 31 in the control substrate 19 opens the main valve 5 and a switching valve 6 through the water passage control circuit 36 to supply cleansing water to the cleansing nozzle 7. In response to the pushing operation of the switch 24 or 25, the corresponding inner cylinder 8 is advanced to a selected position to eject the water from a nozzle hole 9 provided at the top end of the inner cylinder 8 onto the human part to be cleaned.
When the heating water switch 21 of the operation panel 4 according to the sanitary device 1 of FIG. 5 is pushed down, the microcomputer 31 in the control substrate 19 controls the output of the heating water heater 14 by the heating water heater control circuit 33 to adjust the temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank 17. The temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank 17 can be controlled to be either xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value of 40xc2x0 C., xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value plus 3xc2x0 (43xc2x0 C.), or xe2x80x9clowxe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value minus 3xc2x0 (37xc2x0 C.).
The selected value is indicated by the corresponding LED 51 display by the microcomputer 31 in the control substrate 19 through the LED control circuit 37. (In FIG. 6, the three LEDs are provided below the heating water switch 21). The temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank 17 is measured by the thermistor 52 provided in the tank 17.
When the drying air switch 23 of the operation panel 4 is pushed down, the microcomputer 31 of the control substrate 19 controls the output of the drying air unit 16 by the drying air unit drive control circuit 35 to adjust the temperature of the drying air from the outlet 18. The temperature of the drying air from the outlet 18 can be controlled to be either xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value of 40xc2x0 C., xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value plus 3xc2x0 (43xc2x0 C.), or xe2x80x9clowxe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value minus 3xc2x0 (37xc2x0 C.).
The selected value is indicated by the corresponding LED 51 display by the microcomputer 31 in the control substrate 19 through the LED control circuit 37. (In FIG. 6, the three LEDs are provided below the drying air switch 21).
The temperature of the drying air from the outlet 18 is measured by the room temperature thermistor 54.
When the toilet seat switch 22 on the operation panel 4 is pushed down, the microcomputer 31 of the control substrate 19 controls the output of the toilet seat heater 15 by the toilet seat heater control circuit 45 to adjust the temperature of the toilet seat 3. The temperature of the seat 3 can be controlled to be either xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value of 40xc2x0 C., xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d which is set to be the target value plus 3xc2x0 (43xc2x0 C.), or xe2x80x9clowxe2x80x9d which is set to be the target-value minus 3xc2x0 (37xc2x0 C.).
The selected value is indicated by the corresponding LED 51 display by the microcomputer 31 in the control substrate 19 through the LED control circuit 37. (In FIG. 6, the three LEDs are provided below toilet seat switch 22).
The temperature of the toilet seat 3 is measured by the toilet seat thermistor 53.
The control of the above temperatures is not accurate due to the lack of accuracy or reliability of the fixed resistor 56 (FIG. 8) used in the control substrate 19, which influences the circuit constant of the control substrate 19 for each product. In order to prevent control deviation generated due to such variance of the circuit constant, the following adjustment operation is performed during the assembling process of the control substrate.
For example, adjustment work for the cleansing water control in the heating water tank 17 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 8, a pseudo resistor 57 corresponding to a target value 59 (corresponding to the intermediate target value xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d temperature 40xc2x0 C.) is connected to a connecting connector 62 (to be connected to the heating water thermistor 52) of the control substrate 19. The microcomputer 31 reads the output from the pseudo resistor 57 as an A/D value 58 by converting to the temperature.
When the A/D value 58 is higher than the target value 59, the microcomputer 31 turns on the xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d display LED 51 (one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch 21) of the operation panel 4. When the A/D value 58 is equal to the target value 59, the microcomputer 31 turns on the xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d display LED 51 (one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch 21) of the operation panel 4 and when the A/D value 58 is lower than the target value 59, the microcomputer 31 turns on the xe2x80x9clowxe2x80x9d display LED 51 (one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch 21) of the operation panel 4.
A worker of the assembling process manually adjusts the gain for the variable resistor 101 installed on the control substrate 19 to turn on the xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d display LED 51 (one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch 21). This can absorb the variance of the circuit constant of the control substrate 19 to prevent the control difference or the control deviation during temperature controlling of the cleansing water in the heating water tank 17.
Further, in the sanitary device 1 in FIG. 5, under the normal use condition that the heating water thermistor 52 is connected to the connecting connector 62 of the control substrate 19, the three step temperature control (xe2x80x9chighxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9clowxe2x80x9d) of the cleansing water in the heating water tank 17 can be made keeping the temperature difference (here, 3xc2x0 C.) to shift from the high side or from the low side by adjusting the gain of the variable resistor 101 installed on the control substrate 19. According to this structure, the temperature can be preset in accordance with the individual preference or the weather characteristics or the conditions in the area where the device is to be sold.
However, in order to prevent the variance in temperature control for the cleansing water in the heating water tank 17, the worker of the assembly line of the control substrate manually adjusts the gain of the variable resistor 101 on the control substrate by confirming whether the xe2x80x9cintermediatexe2x80x9d LED display 51 (one of the three LEDs provided below the heating water switch 21) is turned on or not. This manual adjusting operation is one of the most troublesome operations in the entire manufacturing process.
The above manual adjusting operation is applied to the other controls such as the toilet seat temperature control or the drying air temperature control from the outlet 18.
It is troublesome to adjust the gain of variable resistor 101 on the control substrate to preset the temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank 17 in accordance with the individual preference or the weather conditions in the area where the device is to be sold, because the cover of the housing 20 (FIG. 5) has to be opened when such adjustment is carried out.
The above manual adjusting operation is also applied to the other controls such as the toilet seat temperature control or the drying air temperature control from the outlet 18.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sanitary device with an effective manufacturing process.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a sanitary device which facilitates the adjusting process to absorb the variance of the circuit constant of the control substrate for preventing the control difference or the deviation generated upon temperature control.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a sanitary device which can facilitate the adjusting work for presetting the temperature in accordance with the individual preference or the weather conditions of a specified area.
According to a first aspect of the invention, the sanitary device includes a microcomputer for controlling a temperature of cleansing water in a heating water tank to a target value, a control substrate installed on the microcomputer and a non-volatile memory memorizing a correction value for the target value, wherein the microcomputer corrects the correction value based on the variance of a circuit constant of the control substrate.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the sanitary device includes a microcomputer for controlling a temperature of a drying air supplied from a drying air unit to a target value, a control substrate installed on the microcomputer and a non-volatile memory memorizing a correction value for the target value, wherein the microcomputer corrects the correction value based on the variance of a circuit constant of the control substrate.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the sanitary device includes a microcomputer for controlling a temperature of toilet seat to a target value, a control substrate installed on the microcomputer and a non-volatile memory memorizing a correction value for the target value, wherein the microcomputer corrects the correction value based on the variance of a circuit constant of the control substrate.
The other temperature controls, such as drying air temperature control or toilet seat temperature control are also achieved by this invention.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the sanitary device includes a microcomputer for controlling a temperature of a cleansing water in the heating water tank to a target value, a control substrate installed on the microcomputer, an operation switch connected to the control substrate and a non-volatile memory memorizing a correction value for the target value, wherein the microcomputer corrects the correction value based on the operation of the operation switch.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the sanitary device includes a microcomputer for controlling a temperature of a drying air supplied from a drying air unit to a target value, a control substrate installed on the microcomputer, an operation switch connected to the control substrate and a non-volatile memory memorizing a correction value for the target value, wherein the microcomputer corrects the correction value based on the operation of the operation switch.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the sanitary device includes a microcomputer for controlling a temperature of a toilet seat to a target value, a control substrate installed on the microcomputer, an operation switch connected to the control substrate and a non-volatile memory memorizing a correction value for the target value, wherein the microcomputer corrects the correction value based on the operation of the operation switch.
According to the invention, in the sanitary device, the microcomputer installed on the control substrate controls the temperature of the cleansing water in the heating water tank to the target value to adjust the temperature based on the individual preference or weather conditions by a correction value memorized in the non-volatile memory.
The microcomputer corrects the correction value memorized in the non-volatile memory based on the operation of the operation switch to adjust the temperature based on the individual preference or the weather condition to facilitate the adjusting work.
The other temperature controls, such as drying air temperature control or toilet seat temperature control are also achieved by this invention.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the sanitary device further includes a predetermined range for correcting the correction value.
According to a still further aspect of the present invention, the sanitary device further includes an indicating means for indicating the target value reflecting the correction value.